Being the glutton for punishment I am, and wanting to use as many original parts as possible, I decided to bring in a rust GTR grill I found in Japan. It was a lot cheaper that most I've seen going at around AUD $700 and considering a replica grill is close to AUD $600 I figured it was good value. I knew I was going to have to do some work on it but I wasn't sure just how much. I picked up the grill from Aaron at Import Monster (http://www.importmonster.com.au) last week and took a look at it over the weekend.

It's rusty alright!

The top and back aren't too bad..

But the bottom is worse than I feared and will need to be replaced..

I'm not too fussed, I'll drill the pop rivets, dismantle the entire grill and then send the salvageable parts away for acid dipping and zinc plating. I'll take the bottom piece into a metal fabricator and hopefully they can knock me something up. Fingers crossed!

Picked up some more bits from A A Vinney's (http://www.vinneys.com.au) this week. Still waiting on the polishing jobs to come back though, some parts were pretty bad. I got the mirror bases sorted, these go under the guards and hold them on.

I also got the rest of my fuel filler back and the clips that hold the boot and bonnet chrome work on. The clips are somewhat decayed but they were doing a good job before I took them off so I'm sure they'll hold. Also the number plate lights.

I also fitted the Nissan logo to the gauges instead of the clock. Lots of GTR's came with a clock, some didn't. It would appear there many options, right down to the cigarette lighter and switches for lights etc. I've noted some GTR's that don't even have heater/air controls, talk about basic.

I also picked up some power window mechanisms and switches. I'm missing a rear mech though. Not sure if I'll fit these yet or not, could be cool though.

I've been stripping more parts off the car, the dash is out and I'm dropping it in for repairs tomorrow. Got a bunch of stuff off being plated, powder coated and all my stainless is off being polished. I don't expect to see the stainless until Jan/Feb at this stage though.

A bunch of parts arrived today too.

New washer bottle

New fuel cap

New indicators

New steering column cover

One part of the door seals

And some new window seals for the stainless trim

I'm trying to track down some replacement weather seals for the stainless trim that sits on the top of the doors and the base of the small rear coupe windows. Not sure where I'm going to find these, any suggestions would be appreciated. I had an e-mail sent off to rubber soul (rubber-soul.net), I'm just waiting to hear back.

All the places in red are common, so the sills, the bottom of the rear 1/4 in pretty much all cars rust out, around the rear window as leaf litter etc gets caught in there and stays damp. Also in some cases under the front guards at the base of the door as junk get caught there too.

I've seen that one in Wagga and my advice would be to stay clear. Judging by the condition of the paintwork and interior, that car would be a LOT of work, too much in my opinion, much like my first white one.

I've been working on the windows seals that run along the door chrome work, I'm making some up so I'll post some shots when I'm done. Lots of stuff due to come back from plating in the next week or so, same with some powered coating and I've also got some rust replacement parts being made up. Some new door seals on the way from Japan at the moment and my dash is off being re-skinned. All just a waiting game at the moment.